Last week, our Grade 6 team took our entire Grade 6 community (94 learners and 29 parents along with 7 staff members) on a 3-day/2-night adventure to Camp Kawkawa, located in Hope. The primary focus of the trip is community building. The camp allowed us to do a variety of activities, such as: archery, hiking, swimming, kayaking, surf bike riding, canoeing, team building, boulder climbing, skits, and human foosball.

It was a great opportunity to get to meet the Grade 6 class and learn a little about each learner. We were forced to be together 24/7, which allowed us the opportunity to show each other kindness, concern, care and patience. Living together, or being in community, is beautiful and life giving, but as you know, it is not always easy to do. It requires constant effort and daily mutual forgiveness, however, the safety and acceptance that develops from these habits and choices is invaluable!

Take time this week to ask your child, “What attitudes or things discourage community?” Possible answers might be: cliques, selfishness, not being hospitable, anger, etc. These are all things we want to keep away from school. Also, “How can we be intentional about building a positive and safe community at LCS?” Our teachers are regularly talking and thinking about how to do this better, you can speak into this important topic by continuing this conversation at home.

I love this quote from Jean Vanier: “Community is established by the simple, gentle concern that people show each other every day. It is made of the small gestures, all the services and sacrifices which say ‘I love you’ and ‘I’m happy to be with you.” To me, this embodies my deepest hope for our middle school. Hebrews 10:24-25 calls us to spur one another on toward love and good deeds, and to not give up on meeting together. Christ calls us to be “community builders”, so let’s be intentional about building a community where everyone feels that they belong.